Kennedy to Pope in final letter: I’m all about universal health care

posted at 5:28 pm on August 31, 2009 by Allahpundit

The letter was ostensibly private but a pol as savvy as Teddy surely knew it would be published after his death so he put his opportunity to good use. Nothing wrong with a man making a deathbed declaration in support of a cause he’s passionate about, but enlisting the Pope as an unwitting prop is something only a Kennedy could get away with. Like Harry Reid so poignantly and inimitably said of Teddy’s passing, “I think it’s going to help us.”

I also want you to know that even though I am ill, I’m committed to doing everything I can to achieve access to health care for everyone in my country. This has been the political cause of my life. I believe in a conscience protection for Catholics in the health field and I’ll continue to advocate for it as my colleagues in the Senate and I work to develop an overall national health policy that guarantees health care for everyone.

I have always tried to be a faithful Catholic, Your Holiness, and though I have fallen short through human failings, I have never failed to believe and respect the fundamental teachings of my faith. I continue to pray for God’s blessings on you and on our church and would be most thankful for your prayers for me.

National policy wouldn’t be utmost in my mind if I had a chance to commune with the leader of my faith shortly before my death, but as a wayward nonbeliever, I’m happy to assume that’s my error. “Human failings” aside, though, how did Teddy square his pro-choice record with his claim to believe and respect “the fundamental teachings of my faith”? Is life no longer fundamental? Says Douthat, pondering the great What If of how the abortion wars would have played out had “the Lion” paid a little more attention to the Church:

At times, Ted Kennedy’s fervor on abortion felt like an extended apology to his party’s feminists for the way the men of his dynasty behaved in private…

It’s worth pondering how the politics of abortion might have been different had Ted shared even some of his sister’s qualms about the practice. One could imagine a world in which America’s leading liberal Catholic had found a way to make liberalism less absolutist on the issue, and a world where a man who became famous for reaching across the aisle had reached across, even occasionally, in search of compromise on the country’s most divisive issue.

That was not to be. And it’s entirely fitting, given his record, that Kennedy’s immediate legacy is a draft of health-care legislation that pursues an eminently Catholic goal — expanding access to medical care — through a system that seems likely, in its present design, to subsidize abortion.

I wouldn’t call it an “extended apology” as much as an attempt to purchase the silence of liberals over his private conduct, with damages for personal injuries to be paid in political capital instead of dollars. So effectively was that silence maintained, in fact, that at least one editor at a major feminist blog hadn’t heard of Chappaquiddick or the William Kennedy Smith rape case until this week.

Ah well. With any luck, Joe Kennedy will toss his hat in the ring and we’ll be guaranteed another four or five decades of Kennedy fun. If you’re keeping score at home, incidentally, the family has controlled Teddy’s Senate seat since Eisenhower’s first term. Fifty-six years. How many more to come?

Update: Time notes that the Vatican’s response to Kennedy’s letter was strikingly pro forma, quite in contrast to how they responded to Eunice Kennedy’s failing health:

Diplomatic protocol doesn’t require the Pope to respond to the death of a U.S. Senator, either privately or publicly. Still, prominent and well-regarded Catholics often get particular attention. Earlier in August, the day before she died, the family of Kennedy’s sister Eunice — who had advocated on behalf of the poor, the mentally handicapped and the unborn — received a letter directly from the nuncio saying the Pope was praying for her, her children and her husband. “These decisions [about how to react to deaths of public figures] ultimately depend on the Holy Father,” says the Vatican diplomat. “There’s no fixed rule.”

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A letter to Pope does not buy one absolution. When I heard this letter read with the light becoming more and more dim at Arlington Cemetery, I said a little prayer for the Kennedy light to never shine again.

Has anyone considered what must have gone through Kennedy’s mind in the last days of his life?

If, as it has been repeatedly said, he was a truly religious person he must have been dreading his impending conversation with St. Peter.

Abortion, Sara Jane, and several of the 10 Commandment all came down on the negative side of the ledger. The few things that would show up on the positive side were mainly secular and of little interest to the Holy Host.

Ted Kennedy could have been like Bob Casey but it might have diminished his liberal influence and power.
Even at the end was about himself – good to see the Vatican send him on his journey with a form letter and a kick in the ass.

As a current resident, I keep wondering the same thing. I was very surprised to be told by my husband that he’s never garnered even 50% of the vote in any of his elections. I don’t know who’s gonna’ run but popular sentiment is, funny enough, we need a change.

Kennedy is dead and buried. Lets move on.
He’s the past.
We can’t go back to the glory days of Kennedy.
People who want to look back and try to relive the Kennedy days need to get over it.
Kennedy’s ideology will not work today. That was then, this is now.
Stop looking back.

Wishful thinking…with ego’s like his, he was probably at complete rest and comfort.
He had made a habit of laughing and hearing jokes about the death of Mary Jo, and he was convinced that abortion was “right”.
No, unfortunatly you can bet his last hours of awareness, he was reveling in his magnificence…Grace were for others, not the Kennedy’s.

I wouldn’t call it an “extended apology” as much as an attempt to purchase the silence of liberals over his private conduct, with damages for personal injuries to be paid in political capital instead of dollars. So effectively was that silence maintained, in fact, that at least one editor at a major feminist blog hadn’t heard of Chappaquiddick or the William Kennedy Smith rape case until this week.

I believe in a conscience protection for Catholics in the health field and I’ll continue to advocate for it.

This is the most startling statement in the whole letter. He knows abortion is wrong. He knows that Catholic health workers need protection. He knows Obamacare will give away abortions for free and he does not care.

There were no glory days and you can not look forward unless you have looked back. There are millions of people that still need to know what the Swimmer was all about, good and bad. Don’t like the thread, don’t read it..move on

What I don’t understand is we have been listening to Joe, Robert and Maria all talk about how Uncle Teddy was in/out of consciousness (typical of dying patients). How did he write the letter to the Pope and to Deval Patrick?

Eunice Shriver was a saint who spent her life advocating for the mentally disabled. She really brought the mentally disabled into the mainstream of society. The Special Olympics is probably one of the best organzations around and really paid homage to Rosemary Kennedy’s legacy. It’s funny that it is probably a Kennedy woman, Eunice Shriver, who really atoned for her father’s crimes and left America in a better place because of it…. In contrast, Ted Kennedy is a drunk who left a woman to drown to death.

The left behaves a lot like the medieval Catholic Church in this respect. They have their political indulgences on sale for anybody in power who supports their causes…you don’t have to live it…only pay up and all is forgiven.

There were no glory days and you can not look forward unless you have looked back. There are millions of people that still need to know what the Swimmer was all about, good and bad. Don’t like the thread, don’t read it..move on

Wade on August 31, 2009 at 5:45 PM

Oh,, I know that. I was just being me.
I was commenting more on the hypocrisy of the left. Eulogizing Kennedy,, watch,, they will be remembering him for the next 20 years! RINO’s will want to name bills after him 10 years from now but Reagan??? Get over Reagan!
We’re supposing to get over Reagan??? RINO’s and the Dems can never seem to get over Karl Marx! Everything they want is in honor of Karl Marx! Oh,,, they may not come out and say that,, but he is their inspiration!

The left behaves a lot like the medieval Catholic Church in this respect. They have their political indulgences on sale for anybody in power who supports their causes…you don’t have to live it…only pay up and all is forgiven.

AUINSC on August 31, 2009 at 5:51 PM

yep, the corrupted Catholic church was of course what lead to the Protestant Reformation and desire to get back to original Catholocism, which we still haven’t.

The left behaves a lot like the medieval Catholic Church in this respect. They have their political indulgences on sale for anybody in power who supports their causes…you don’t have to live it…only pay up and all is forgiven.

AUINSC on August 31, 2009 at 5:51 PM

That describes cap and trade. Nothing more than a political indulgence.

I have always tried to be a faithful Catholic, Your Holiness, and though I have fallen short through human failings, I have never failed to believe and respect the fundamental teachings of my faith. I continue to pray for God’s blessings on you and on our church and would be most thankful for your prayers for me.
I hope this wasn’t his idea of reconciliation.

Olympia snowe
this is off topic but it has to be posted here. She is going to cave and side with the libs on healthcare. Burn her phones at her offices. Pick a zip code or a town in Maine, call her office saying you represent a group of seniors and let her know she’s out if she votes with the libs. Better yet, take a page out of alinskys rules for radicals and say your moderate democrats against the bill. Stop her now before she caves! Call now!!

I was raised Lutheran (Missouri Synod) which is pretty much a mirror to the Catholic dogma, complete with pomp, circumstance, chatecisms, confirmation class, blah.

When I was delivered from the evils of organized religion and actually read the words of Jesus (in red), I learned that these guys that adorn themselves in robes are pretty much pissin off Jesus. I learned that “Thou shalt call no man Father” in place of God Himself. I learned that you don’t build statues and pray to them. I learned that you don’t play bingo and other games of chance (or have carnivals) on church property. Jesus’ only violent act was overturning the tables in a temple and admonishing the dealers that erected them.

So, if ded Kennedy wants to plead to some dude in a fancy robe and hat, and if dude in fancy robe and hat doesn’t write back… no harm, no foul. They’re both just ‘men’.

/Please, no offense meant to any Catholics, Lutherans, etc. I can speak these things because I was raised in them and had to deal with it myself.

I’m committed to doing everything I can to achieve access to health care for everyone in my country….based on what WE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT thinks the level of healthcare access should be, never mind what the doctors or patients have to say about the matter.

Poor guy. Studied too much about his own power and didn’t understand spiritual matters. The pope should have taken the time to write to him about 2nd Peter/verses 11-12 ..around there…..and educate him on the ideas of socialism.
The silence from the Vatican is as telling as the letter to the Pope is.
Sad days.

According to the founders, and what is common sense, we were born into the world endowed by our Creator with certain absolute and untouchable rights: the right to life, the right to liberty, and the right to pursue happiness.

All this cretin, Ted Kennedy, ever did throughout his entire life was to undermine these basic rights.

Not to mention many of the Ten Commandments, but these are between him and God.

What he did and tried to do with your and my God-given rights, however, are between him and us.

So, in the nicest way I can say it… even the Pope’s fire extinguisher ain’t big enough for where I hope you’re headin’ Tedster. In other words…

My God the stones on that guy, to actually tell the Pope — the Cardinal of Rome, the Big Kahuna HIMSELF — that he believed in and and supported the Church’s fundamental teachings. Un-effing-believable. I don’t know, maybe “sanctity of life from conception to natural death” means something different in Hyannisport.

My God the stones on that guy, to actually tell the Pope — the Cardinal of Rome, the Big Kahuna HIMSELF — that he believed in and and supported the Church’s fundamental teachings. Un-effing-believable. I don’t know, maybe “sanctity of life from conception to natural death” means something different in Hyannisport.

CMS2004 on August 31, 2009 at 6:49 PM

With the large number of Catholics voting Democrat, it evidently means something else in most of America.

I believe in a conscience protection for Catholics in the health field and I’ll continue to advocate for it.

This is the most startling statement in the whole letter. He knows abortion is wrong. He knows that Catholic health workers need protection. He knows Obamacare will give away abortions for free and he does not care.

tessa on August 31, 2009 at 5:45 PM

It’s not just catholics who need that conscience clause. There are other Christian denominations, Jews and others, even atheists, who respect life and need to be able to follow their conscience in healthcare.

It’s not just catholics who need that conscience clause. There are other Christian denominations, Jews and others, even atheists, who respect life and need to be able to follow their conscience in healthcare.

Mommynator on August 31, 2009 at 7:07 PM

Don’t get me started on the hypocrite Jews! Oh we must remember the holocaust. Then they support state sponsored butchering of the truly innocent.

It is amazing how economically ignorant Ted, Barney and the rest of the Left is about how wealth is created.
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They almost seem to believe wealth can be created legislatively.
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200 years of production exceeding consumption followed by 40 years of the opposite.
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Where do you think this will lead.
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“Ask not for whom the bell tolls.”
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It tolls for us all.
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Eunice Shriver was a saint who spent her life advocating for the mentally disabled. She really brought the mentally disabled into the mainstream of society

I keep wondering when someone besides Sarah Palin is going to make the clear connection…If universal healthcare ever passes, Eunice Shriver’s lifework will become unnecessary. Mentally disabled, as well as aged, infirm or imperfect citizens will not receive healthcare. They will die untreated because they are deemed not worth the cost of care. Gov’t takeover of healthcare is brutal and diametrically opposite to Shriver’s reverence for life. Her death was a cause for mourning-Teddy, not so much IMHO.

Ted Kennedy. A guy who did nothing in his life of note except leave a woman to die in the back seat of his car.

The ultimate liberal hypocrite. Pushing for government single payer rationed health “care” while he, at 77 years of age with incurable brain cancer, pushes all the medical technology and drugs options available. He gets $50,000 a dose cutting edge drug therapy, proton beam brain treatment and all the best our country’s medical system can provide.

For you in his case though, his “nirvana” is you shutting up, sitting down, taking a pain pill and just f*cking die. Health care is to be rationed and it will be provided to the “ruling class” that these neo-Marxists want to create.

/Please, no offense meant to any Catholics, Lutherans, etc. I can speak these things because I was raised in them and had to deal with it myself.

Best regards to all

Key West Reader on August 31, 2009 at 6:14 PM

You know not of which you speak. Catholics, and IIRC, Lutherans, do not “pray” to statues. They are art. And bingo, and the like, are not played in the Church, but typically are in buildings on church property. And frankly, you don’t know that Christ was only “violent” in that one instance. Remember, the Bible is full of the teachings and actions of Christ, but not all of the teachings and actions of Christ are in the Bible. Next time you decide to judge one or more of your Christian brothers or sisters in faith, remember the “one who is without sin shall cast the first stone.”

I’m sure from all the money we send you that you know who I am. As you know, I’ve spent my life claiming to be a devout Catholic, but I’ve been a killer of women, as well as babies. I also have been a bit of a lying deviant and a traitor.
I was wondering if you could find it in your heart to forgive me and say a prayer to the Big Guy so I don’t get baked below.
Enclosed please find $20K extra cash NOT to go into the poor box, but if you use it for new golf clubs, I’ll never tell.